Pirates of Oz

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I did not take many pictures tonight, so this is pretty much all I have. We went to a fabulous Halloween party hosted by our friends Meara and Justin. It was one of the best Halloween nights that I can remember. Great friends, great food, fantastic costumes, and soooo much more. Life can't get much better than this.

Pre-Spooky Day

We've had PLENTY of Halloween celebrations already and it's not even October 31. We are one lucky family! This is what we've done so far...

Kevin's preschool parade with the T/TH class. He is Batman. Well, he's one of the three Batman kiddos. He is sitting next to Spiderman in the front I think.

Juliana's school SPOOKTACULAR. Pictured is Juliana, Kylie, and Juliana.

After SPOOKTACULAR we came home to carve our jack-o-lantern. The aforementioned jack-o-lantern proceeded to fall on the floor and fall apart. It's now sitting in our trash, but the ooey gooey pics are pretty darn cute.

Kevin's MWF preschool parade. Notice he is not Batman anymore. He's a big n' tough Army guy! Still not his Halloween costume, he is just wearing his dress up from home. Pictured is Kevin, AJ, Ava, and Owen... some of Kevin's best friends.

Juliana had the day off of school, so she helped hand out candy at the preschool parade.

Still MANY more Halloween festivities to come. We actually have turned down a party that we have gone to for a few years. We are all Halloweened out right now, and are going to another one tomorrow. I hate turning people down, but sometimes it can be a bit too much on our plate. Having said that, we are having tons of fun this year. Right now the kids are playing with play dough in the garage using Halloween cookie cutters. They are loving every second of it, except when I hear the occasional, "GIMME THAT! I SAID I GIMMMMME THAT!" :)

Real Halloween pictures to come. They have not worn Halloween costumes yet, just dress-up clothes. Soooo, stay tuned.

LAST... Baby Stellan (mentioned below) is doing much better. He is still in the PICU, but for the moment is having a normal heart function.

A special little boy

Tomorrow is Stellan's first birthday. He's fighting for his life at this moment. He should be opening up his presents and smashing cake into his face. Instead he is fighting, fighting as hard as he possibly can. Click on his picture for the story and updates.

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz- Halloween Flashbacks

Sleeping Beauty?

Oh dear Lord... this is the conversation I had with Juliana this morning while walking down the sidewalk to school.

"Mommy, I'm super excited to have recess today!"

"Really? Why?"

"'Cause yesterday I promised the boys that I would chase them for the whole recess. They say they are my princes and I am their Sleeping Beauty."

(Mommy chucking, yet screaming on the inside..."NO, you are MY Sleeping Beauty, not theirs!")

Day at the park

Our life in the last couple days.

A birthday party! Our life has been consumed with parties of some sort both on weekends and during the week. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK!

TODAY-- We played in the leaves while at the park after church. I think he is blinded by the beauty of the leaves. :)

Climbing trees is super fun too!

Running around the park structure. This is my kind of day... leaves and parks!

GO GIRL!

Yesterday was a day full of cleaning. I took Q-tips to the kids bathroom and cleaned every corner of it, along with the bedrooms, kitchen, and family room too. I despise cleaning, but I love a clean house. It feels good to have the piles of laundry put away, the dust gone, and the bathrooms shiny again.

Feeling Domestic

The last time we had a full weekend with no plans was... uhhhh, in July, I think. Now let me back up, we did have plans on sunday, but I passed up a friends birthday/adoption of the most adorable baby boy party to stay home this weekend. It pains me to do it, but I desperately need a weekend of doing nothing.

Doing nothing! HAAAAAA, riiiiiiiiight! I am trying to get things done around this house. Laundry has been piling up, the kitchen counter is scary, and the dust is atrocious. I have been gone every morning this week while Kevin has been in preschool too. Let me tell you why...

I am the chairperson of a nationwide art program organized through the PTA. LUCKY ME?!?! I think I will be voted, "SUCKER VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR". :) Sooo, each morning this week, I have spent time in the classrooms energizing the children for the art program. Today I went to a fifth grade class, then a second grade, then a third grade. Let me tell you, the questions they ask are hilarious. One kid said to me, "Can I make a comedy movie like South Park for film production or write a poem about Cartman for Literature?" "Well hon, no you can't do something like that because South Park is copyrighted material and what do the rules say about copyrighted material?" "Oh yeah, sorry." I think the teacher and I were wanting to laugh, yet wondering what else he watches with his parental units. Actually, I think the teacher may not have been paying attention at all, because she was taking advantage of the time I was in the classroom to get a few things accomplished.

So my mornings have been super busy, my afternoons are always busy, along with evenings too. Weekends have been close to impossible, yet full of fun, so I can't complain. I'm just ready to be domestic this weekend. Ughhhhh, did I say that?

Wordless-- Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' (in the leaves)

How a pumpkin ages

It's Kevin's turn. Such a handsome little punkin...

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Growin' Punkin

Our punkin over the last 6 years... too bad she's actually almost 8 years old. Hey, we did not have a digital camera in the first couple years.

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

PUMPKINed OUT!

We went to the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival today. Such a great time! We saw it all... here is our fabulous day.......

Our picnic on the Pacific.

Some of you will know who this was taken for. COOPER was there too!

Dancing in the street. She was loved by the band and (most) passerbys.

Yup, Obama is in San Francisco. Too bad we had to get a cardboard version of him. The kids were super excited to take a picture with Obama. The Democrats at the booth thought it was pretty funny. What would they think if I told them we weren't Democrats? Ehhh, that's ok, Obama is a friend in our house.

Do ya want Pumpkin Pie? Pumpkin bread? Pumpkin bars? Pumpkin ice cream?

Check him out. Sooo cute!

My two pumpkins.

Two big helpers heading to the car.

Quite a day! We had so much fun!

Normalcy

UPDATE:

We went outside to play in the leaves. The first picture is Kevin's overall impression of playing outside. He played with a stick for about two minutes, then sat down to wait for us to go inside.

I conned Kevin into smiling for one picture.

Juliana had a blast... just in case you can't tell!

A happy little girl throwing leaves! That's what life is all about!

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Kev stayed home again today. He's been home all week. I went out on a limb today and took him on a few errands. I know when I am sick and in a rut, I just need fresh air and a bit of normalcy. That's what I've done for Kevin today. He seems ok for the most part. His coughs are horrendous though. Having said that, I still may let the kids play in the leaves later today to get some energy out. I think he is tired of being inside and being active may do a body good. We'll see. I hope I don't regret this bit of freedom.

Also, I got a facebook message from Tory that she may be going home today. I have not talked to her, but I am guessing this is a good sign that things are turning around. Whooo hoooo! I was ready to go down to Arkansas and sneak her out if I had to.

Rain, Rain, STAYYYY!

Gray skies and sicko kiddo. That sums up the day in our house. Kevin has been sick for two days. Luckily not the yucky hospital sick, just a winter bug, so far.

Yayyy for the rain today! This drought ridden state needs the rain. It is a welcome sight and sound.

One last note, I talked to Tory about an hour ago. We spoke for about 2 minutes. Still trying to figure things out after a myriad of tests, scans, blood work, etc. It was nice to hear her voice after almost a week. Poor girl is missing her two babies. Chris showed her a video of the girls and Anna (her 2 year old) said, "I miss you mommy." I'm sure the video made her want to jump out of the hospital bed and hug her precious girls. So, that's the update.

Whirlwind photos

I guess I was able to post pics sooner than I thought. Kevin was sick today, so he stayed home from school, and apparently I got out of my mommy day at school too. I did drop off my obligated snack though. Here are the pictures from the weekend.

Ready for the rehearsal dinner.

Wedding day. All of us bridesmaids.

The bride and groom walking with Juliana.

The kids were bored while the grown-ups were taking pictures on the golf course.

SUNDAY. Fleet Week Air Show in San Francisco. We watched from Treasure Island.

Spectacular. They flew directly overhead many times. It was quite a sight... and SOUND.

I'm not sure how I captured the jets. They were sooooo fast, and I had my ears covered.